nippon

See also: Nippon

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 日本 (Nippon, “Japan”, noun).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ni.pɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

Adjective

nippon (feminine nipponne or nippone, masculine plural nippons, feminine plural nipponnes or nippones)

1. synonym of japonais (“Japanese”); Nipponese
   • 2007, Amélie Nothomb, Ni d’Ève ni d’Adam [Neither Eve nor Adam] (non-fiction), Éditions Albin Michel:

     Si Rinri avait interrogé de façon négative, ce qui est courant dans ce pays compliqué, j’étais cuite. Je tentai de me rappeler les règles grammaticales nippones de réponse aux questions négatives, ce qui est aussi complexe que de retenir les pas du tango.

     If Rinri was asking in a negative way, which is commonplace in this complicated country, then I was being tricked. I tried to remember the Nipponese grammatical rules on responding to negative questions, which was as hard as keeping up with tango steps.

Further reading

• “nippon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.